NYPD

02/04/2013

On Wednesday, February 20th at 8 PM the NYPD's Community Affairs Bureau will be in Woodhaven to discuss the Blockwatcher program. So far, the Woodhaven Residents' Block Association has signed up over 50 residents who are interested in making our community better and safer. Here is a map of Woodhaven with approximate locations of Blockwatchers --

Is your block covered? A Blockwatcher can report anything suspicious within the confines of the precinct -- but everyone is more likely to see and notice suspicious activity that takes place closer to their home.

How is your section of Woodhaven covered? Hopefully you aren't waiting for someone else to volunteer.

Do you feel the neighborhood could be safer? Well, what are you waiting for? Sign up now!

You will not be asked to go on patrol. You will not be asked to confront anyone. You are merely signing up to take a training course, a few hours of your time -- and then you will be given an ID Number to use when calling in suspicious activity. Please consider filling out an application now (click here for an application).

At the very least, we ask you to come donw on the 20th to hear what the program is about.

Wednesday, February 20th at 8 PM at the Woodhaven-Richmond Hill Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

01/24/2013

The February Town Hall meeting of the Woodhaven Residents' Block Association has been moved to Wednesday, February 20th at 8 PM - the meeting will be held at the Ambulance Corps (78-15 Jamaica Avenue).

We have moved this meeting to a weekenight to accomodate our special guests, the NYPD's Community Affairs Bureau, who are coming to Woodhaven to discuss the Block Watcher Program. So far, the WRBA has signed up over 50 residents who are interested in participating in the program to make our community better and safer.

We are asking everyone who has already signed up to attend this meeting. And if you did not sign up? There's still time -- come on down anyway. They will answer all your questions about the program -- you can fill out an application here.

The NYPD's Community Affairs Bureau will also give a brief presentation on the many other programs they have available -- we may find that some of them are useful and of interest to our community.

06/21/2012

With the arrival of warm weather comes a wave of noise complaints from residents of Woodhaven. And the 102 Precinct gets deluged every night, but particularly weekends, by 311 Noise complaints. Captain Martin Briffa of the 102 told us this week that on this past Saturday Night (June 16th) the 102 Precinct had 17 concurrent noise complaints. It's a problem that's spiraled out of control.

Take a look at the following map, which highlights the locations of residential noise complaints in Woodhaven since the beginning of May. Larger yellow circles represent a higher number of calls.

The WRBA is working closely with the 102 Precinct, speaking with them regularly over the past few weeks. They are working hard on the problem and we are very happy to report that they issued 11 summonses this past weekend -- at $150 a pop! We are hopeful that this tactic continues and alters the behavior of chronic noise abusers.

Other chronic noise abusers received personal visits from the 102 Precinct and were issued warnings. If you have a chronic noise abuser on your block, and you are frustrated -- tortured by loud parties that go on until all hours of the night -- you should work with the Woodhaven Residents' Block Association. We have handed over a list of chronic noise abusers to the 102 Precinct -- these are locations that (a) residents have reported to us; and (b) have multiple 311 reports.

You need to call 311. We've spoken to residents who say calling 311 is a waste of time, but if you feel that way you are not looking at the big picture. Calling 311 helps to build a case against chronic noise abusers and makes it easier to resolve those issues.

If you have a chronic noise abuser on your block, contact the WRBA -- email us at info@woodhaven-nyc.org or call us at 718-296-3735. We can't promise that the noise will cease immediately -- but we can promise it will get attention and that's the 1st step to solving the problem.

If you do not work with the WRBA, you will be working on your own to resolve your problem -- making it much more likely that you will have a noisy summer.

01/27/2012

Late last year, while most of us were preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving with our families, the Rosario family in Woodhaven was preparing to bury their beloved Carlos, who was murdered on November 20th at his tire shop in Brooklyn. Two months have gone by without an arrest, but the Rosario family wants to make sure that Carlos' murder is not forgotten and that the case receives the full attention that it deserves.

After reaching out to the Woodhaven Residents' Block Association, Carlos' daughter Ismelda agreed to come down to the next monthly Town Hall meeting to tell us about her dad and the efforts underway to make sure justice prevails. Here is a clip of that meeting:

We will be in communication with our elected officials and our representatives in the NYPD to make sure that everything is being done to capture the person who took this good man from his family. We will also reach out to the mayor's office to see if we can expedite the process of doubling the reward money from 12 to 24K.

As residents of Woodhaven, we need to do all that we can to stick together -- to stand by each other -- to back each other up when needed. This goes for everything -- from street changes, to noise issues, or issues with gangs and/or illegally converted houses -- to situations as serious as this.

Share this blog post. If you have friends and family in Brooklyn, especially anywhere near Bushwick, send this to them. Ask them to share it. Help us spread the word. Carlos Rosario was a resident of Woodhaven, he was one of ours. Stand by his family and help prevent this case from being forgotten.

12/28/2011

The 102nd Precinct works hard to serve and protect the residents of Woodhaven, Richmond Hill, Kew Gardens and Ozone Park 365 days a year. And now they are turning to those they protect for help for a few hours.

The 102is holding a Blood Drive on Tuesday, January 3rd from 11:45 AM to 5:45 PM at the 102nd Precinct which is located at 87-34 118th Street in Richmond Hill. Each donation received will help to save up to THREE lives.

Eligibility Criteria:

Bring ID with signature or photo.

Minimum weight 110 lbs.

Age 16 – 75 (16 year olds must have parental permission. Age 76 and over need doctor's note)

Eat well (low fat) & drink fluids

No tattoos for past 12 months

For questions concerning medical eligibility call 1-800-688-0900. For more information or to schedule an appointment, please contact 102 Pct. Community Affairs at (718) 805-3215.

The NYPD is seeking the individual in this photograph for questioning in connection with the homicide that occurred on or about October 24th, 2011 at 88-05 91st Avenue in Woodhaven, Queens. He is identified as Mostafa Omran, 56, and he was a resident at the same address.

54-year-old attorney Yasmeen Rabbani's body was discovered lying near her kitchen Sunday evening after attempts by her family to reach her were unsuccessful. She had three stab wounds in her neck and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Please contact Detective Curley at the 102nd Detective Squad at 718-805-3212 with any information you may have regarding the location of Mostafa Omran.

09/30/2011

At the most recent Woodhaven Town Hall meeting, we had a little experiment. A number of the issues that are frequently called in, or discussed at meetings, were put on display, on a table -- each problem affixed to a cup. Noise, Illegal Conversions, Illegal Signs, etc. Over a dozen different "issue cups" were put out. And as each resident came into the meeting they were handed 7 straws.

The idea was that they had to place a straw into each cup which they felt needed attention. And if they felt that a particular issue needed extra attention, they could place 3 or 4 or all 7 of their straws in that issue cup. Residents took their allotted straws and began voting in our "straw poll" --

One resident said they needed more than 7 straws -- illustrating the point of limited resources. We'd like to concentrate on all of the issues -- but sometimes we have to pick and choose our battles, and this experiment was designed to see which issues mattered most to the residents of Woodhaven. And if a particular issue was not on the table, they were free to add their own issue cup.

It was an interesting experiment, as were the results. "Not Enough Police" came in first with 46 straws (22%), "Illegal Conversions" was in second place with 25 straws (12%) and "Gangs" came in third with 23 straws (11%).

Here are the complete results -- how did the issues that matter most to you fare?

** Some people felt that Noisy Neighbors and Noisy Cars should have been a single issue -- combined they got 31 straws (15%), good enough for 2nd Place.

** Some issues may be seasonal. Perhaps if we took this straw poll again after the next blizzard, the snow response issue may have gotten more than 3%. On the other hand, we did have a long session with the Department of Sanitation at a prior meeting - perhaps the residents were satisfied with the answers they received.

** The issue with students at JHS 210 was added by a resident, we will be meeting with residents and gathering more details on this issue.

It was an interesting experiment -- and the results have given us food for thought. We'll be having a 2nd Round of our Woodhaven Straw Poll soon -- make sure you attend a Town Hall meeting so you can make sure your voice is counted! the next Woodhaven Town Hall is on Saturday, October 15th at 1 PM -- at the Woodhaven-Richmond Hill Ambulance Corps (78-15 Jamaica Avenue).

09/08/2011

Your help is needed is apprehending a man sought in the attemped rape of a woman on Wednesday, September 7th at 10 AM in Forest Park. The woman was jogging with a group of people on one of the running paths in the park and had fallen behind the others. The woman passed the suspect, who was headed in the opposite direction -- he then made a U-Turn and approached the victim from behind and attempted to sexually assault her. Here is a sketch of the attempted rapist --